Buchanan is a clown. He can’t separate state propaganda from an actual Christian. That’s why we, as a movement, keeping getting conned by losers like Mittens or Ryan.
Whether Putin knows enough about God and His laws and His Truth, I do not know but I do know that in the past, God's people have been punished and called to task by ruthless tyrants.
If people won't listen to reason or the many warnings from God, He will use any and all means to bring them to their knees or their face in the dirt to admit whom the Real Leader is and how much we need to fear Him and "turn from their (our) wicked ways."